Samsung Chromebook 3 XE500C13-K02US Review

Samsung Chromebook is one of my many laptops. I use it mostly for internet related work. It is surprisingly light, fast and has very long battery life. Even many of my tablets do not have that long battery life. In most of the cases, the battery lasts more than 7 hours. It is very light and so I can carry it more easily than I carry a tablet.

I’m a fan of the keyboard. I have big hands and have trouble with smaller keyboards but have no issues with this one. Compared to my netbooks this is downright spacious and have no problem doing long writing sessions on it. The first time I opened up the Chromebook, my first impression was that it had a bigger keyboard than expected for such a small computer.

The touchpad is fine. The size is good and it can do multitouch. I noticed that sometimes it registers me using two fingers when I’m only using one, but it’s rare enough that it doesn’t matter. It’s one of those clicky touchpads without separate mouse buttons, which is fine, but I noticed if I’m holding the computer with one hand, the bottom can bend inward slightly and then the mouse button can’t be clicked. A strange complaint, but they really could have put a little more reinforcement at the bottom of the computer below the touchpad to prevent this.

The build quality it absolutely top notch, besides that little inward bending on the bottom that I mentioned before which most people might never run into. It’s all plastic but it looks and feels like quality. The first thing I noticed was how thin it is. I was coming off of 3+ year old netbooks which, while small, weren’t particularly thing. The Chromebook is also surprisingly heavy for the weight, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. It feels pleasantly solid and well built. The hinge for the display is excellent. It’s stiff in a good way, where it will stay right where you put it. Also it can open up 180 degrees, which is good for using it in bed sometimes. I also love that it’s fanless.